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Recently, a group of Langdale CFB students traveled to Atlanta to attend Georgia Forestry Association’s “Forestry Day at the Capitol.” Governor Kemp and industry leaders from around the state gathered to discuss property taxes, market conditions, land use, and regulatory issues.

Among many of the issues discussed were the challenges faced by logging operators. Dr. Joe Conrad, Warnell’s professor of Forest Operations, was asked to speak addressing the challenges faced by trucking and logging companies. Dr. Conrad’s address focused the inconsistencies in weight limits for trucks on interstate and state roads. This forces log trucks to avoid interstates; therefore, they predominately use state roads which are more dangerous and less efficient. These issues have become increasingly important as strained markets have limited efficiency and returns.

In addition to GFA’s speakers and luncheon, Langdale Center students were able to sit in on a subcommittee meeting, network extensively, and hear keynote speaker Governor Kemp at the legislative reception.

May 2019 Graduates:

Company, Position, Location

Georgia-Pacific, Procurement Forester, Milledgeville, GA

FORISK Consulting, Industry Analyst, Athens, GA

BTG Forestry Services, Valuation Analyst, Atlanta, GA

Carter and Carter Forest Management, LLC, Jesup, GA

Salm Schulenburg, LLC, Manager of Operation, Atlanta, GA

Returning Graduate Students:

Company, Position, Location

Rayonier Inc., Business Development Intern, Yulee, FL

Domain Capital Group, LLC., Summer Analyst, Atlanta, GA

Campbell Global, Forest Business Intern, Portland, OR

FORISK Consulting, Forest Finance Intern, Athens, GA

Georgia- Pacific, Procurement Forester Intern, Brookneal, VA

Hancock Natural Resource Group, Economic Research Intern, Boston, MA

Georgia Forestry Association, Economics and Policy Intern, Forsyth, GA

Conservation Forestry, LLC., Summer Analyst, Exeter, NH

Fall 2016

On Friday, September 30^th Weyerhaeuser hosted its eight annual golf tournament to benefit University of Georgia’s Langdale Center for Forest Business (LCFB).  Sixty-five degrees and sunny made for a fun day at The Georgia Club for all 144 players from the forestry industry.   On behalf of the LCFB, we thank the twenty corporate sponsors, in particular the Tournament Host, Weyerhaeuser, as well as three Tournament Sponsors – Jones Lang LaSalle, Drax Biomass and WestRock. The event raised $83,890 for the LCFB to support graduate student assistantships, and travel.

A Thursday evening dinner at Flinchum’s Phoenix Banquet Hall in UGA’s Whitehall Forest kicked off the event.  More than 90 industry professionals, Center for Forest Business Faculty and graduate students attended the Thursday evening cocktail hour and low-country boil. Weyerhaeuser employees and UGA graduate students volunteered Friday to facilitate a fun day for each of the 36 teams on the course.  To conclude the two-day event, Weyerhaeuser hosted all forest business graduate students for dinner Friday evening to network, discuss career paths and express support for the industry-relevant curriculum and exposure the LCFB offers its students.

A sincere thanks to our sponsors, volunteers and participants!

September, 2016

The Langdale Center for Forest Business (LCFB) sponsored six forest business graduate students to attend the Who Will Own the Forest Conference (WWOTF) in the Pacific Northwest. The WWOTF, organized by the World Forestry Center, takes place in Portland, Oregon each Fall.  The conference is one of the primary timberland investment conferences attended by 400+/- industry professionals each year.  The two and a half-day event covers various topics on the maturing and evolving asset, and examines the issues that will affect the demand for commercial timber, diversified values from forestland, and maximize returns to investors.

The LCFB offers sincere thanks to Outdoor Underwriters as well as Campbell Global for their support of these students in attending the WWOTF this year.  The opportunity to attend conferences like WWOTF coupled with coursework focusing on core business and forest management provides exceptional exposure to and preparation for the many career paths available to our students.  The LCFB is committed to providing relevant industry exposure such as attending WWOTF to its graduates as they approach graduation and enter the job market.

Left to right: Jack Durgin, Will Ficklen, John Mulloy, John Miller, Andrew Carey, Ty Gillespie.

This May saw a number of current Masters of Forest Resources students attending the school’s annual field camp.

The camp comprises of three weeks split by subject area:

• Week 1: Operations
• Week 2: Silviculture
• Week 3: Mensuration

During the operations week, the students visited a number of sites in Alabama. Logging operations, mills and manufacturing facilities were all on the menu. Our hosts were incredibly welcoming and put up well with the barrage of questions that the students fired their way.

The silviculture week exposed the students to a number of systems that differ greatly from what we may consider typical down in loblolly pine country. Longleaf regeneration and management near Savannah, a stop off at the Cradle of Forestry and a comprehensive look at hardwood management for different landowner objectives filled up the week pretty quickly. We also stopped off for a lesson on prescribed burning in the Tallulah Gorge National Forest that was especially interesting.

Right as summer arrived we started mensuration week with a short drive to a Warnell owned forest. Armed with cruising gear and brush-pants, the students spent the week marking off sample plots and surveying stands in a variety of growth stages. Too early for blueberries this year, everyone had to make do with packed lunches. I believe the record this year stands at 84 ticks found one one person in a single day.

Field camp provided an excellent primer for students that are newer to forestry, while giving those more experienced a chance to delve deeper into the industry by exposing them to some of the best operations, silvicultural systems and surveying practices in North America.

In a recent letter, Louisiana Pacific informed its consumers that it plans to re-open a long curtailed OSB mill in Clarke County, Alabama[1] by April 2013. The mill was indefinitely curtailed in the fourth quarter 2008 on declining demand for OSB after being in operation for about a year. The news follows an earlier announcement by Georgia-Pacific (G-P) to start a new OSB facility in Clarendon County, South Carolina early in 2013[2]. The mill is a sister facility of Allendale OSB, which G-P opened in 2010. G-P purchased both Allendale and the unfinished Clarendon facility from Grant Forest Products in early 2010.

Both statements speak to producers’ confidence and expectation for housing recovery next year. Combined with recent builders’ confidence and a rally of housing starts, these announcements indicate that housing is on strong footing and this sector of the economy is set for a near-future turn-around.

But what impact will these openings have on markets for structural panels and, especially, timber markets? The two announced mills will add about 9% to currently operating OSB capacity in US South. The impact of new capacity in each state will be much larger, 44% and 77% in South Carolina and Alabama, respectively. The move may lift pine pulpwood prices in each market, but the impact will be moderate as each facility will likely be gradually reaching its full capacity during 2013. Even at full capacity, the marginal consumption from the new facilities will increase the total demand for pine pulpwood by 7.4% and 6.5% in Alabama and South Carolina, respectively.